He let his gaze drop to his lap and tried not to think about what that man was doing to Kat. The next thing he knew the lights were dimming in the room and the doctor was spraying gel across Kat’s bare stomach.
“We’re going to take some pictures and I’m going to try to get a heartbeat on the Doppler. Hopefully we can get a good look at the little guy today.”
“It’s a boy?” Sawyer asked, perking up from his stupor.
The doctor smiled and shook his head. “We actually haven’t talked about that yet. I do have a preliminary result from the NIPT test, if you would like to know. It’s 90 percent accurate, but I wouldn’t go painting any rooms until after we do the gender confirmation ultrasound at twenty weeks. Maybe we can see something today, but that depends on the baby and how cooperative she or he is feeling.”
“I would like to know the test results,” Kat said.
“Sure thing.” The doctor picked up the folder and flipped to a page filled with lab results numbers. “Well, it looks to me like you guys should be expecting a little girl.”
Kat brought her hand up to her mouth to stifle a soft cry. Sawyer wanted to rush to her side and share in the excitement, but it felt like intruding on someone else’s moment. It wasn’t his baby or his news, despite what he’d told them in the lobby earlier.
“My sisters are going to be thrilled,” he said instead, with a reassuring nod to Kat. “And Mom and Grandma Ingrid, too. Once you know for certain you’re going to be smothered in a sea of ruffled, pink baby clothes.”
Kat laughed and he saw a shimmer of happy tears in her green eyes. He reached out and took her hand, squeezing it gently. He might not be the father, but until Finn got home, he would do what he could to support her through this.
Her gaze met his and she smiled. “Thank you for being here,” she said. “I didn’t realize I didn’t want to be alone for this moment until right now.”
He squeezed her hand again and they both turned their attention to the grainy image on the monitor. Dr. Wheeler moved the wand back and forth across her stomach while he searched the darkness for the tiny baby inside.
“Here we go. Hello, precious one.”
Sawyer narrowed his gaze at the monitor, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. Then suddenly the profile of the baby came into focus and he felt the emotion of the moment hit him like a punch to his midsection.
He could see every little detail of her face, her little nose and mouth, and her hands balled up in front of her. He could see the curve of her spine and her legs drawn up to her tummy. The beating of her heart was visible, although they couldn’t quite hear it over the static.
The doctor hit the keyboard repeatedly, capturing shot after shot of the baby, and then moving the wand to a different location for a new angle. At one point, he pointed out something completely indiscernible and said, “I’d say this is a girl for sure.” He typed it on the screen, pointing out some blurry spots, and printed out another image. “You can go ahead and paint.”
Then the doctor focused on the tiny fluttering heart on the screen and suddenly the room was filled with the rapid wub-wub sound of the baby’s heartbeat.
Through it all, Sawyer held Kat’s hand, fully enthralled in the moment as though this was his little girl on the screen, whose heartbeat he was hearing for the first time. His brother had screwed up a lot in his life, but Sawyer couldn’t help but feel this wasn’t just Finn’s latest mistake. This might be the first thing Finn had gotten right.
He also felt an incredible sense of jealousy. He had no right to, really. I wasn’t as though he’d been pining for a family of his own—far from it, actually. But somehow knowing that a simple twist of fate had put this woman in Finn’s path instead of his own bothered him.
Kat. This baby girl. It was supposed to be his. Kat had come to that party looking for him, not Finn. If he hadn’t been feeling poorly that night he would’ve been the one to meet her. Maybe he wouldn’t have whisked her off to a hotel the way Finn did, but he couldn’t help but think he would’ve asked her to dinner. And then more. And in time, maybe they would’ve been sharing this moment together over their child.
Finn hadn’t just taken his Jet Ski and played pretend that night. It was as though his twin had stolen his whole future when he put on that name tag.
Eight
“Can I take you to lunch?”
Kat seemed surprised by his offer as they walked out of her doctor’s building. “Don’t you need to work or something?”
Sawyer frowned. “You sound like my dad. Come on, I’ll take you wherever you want to go. Have you started having any weird food cravings yet?”
“I don’t know, Sawyer.” She seemed uncharacteristically uncomfortable with him. It felt odd to him after the moment they’d just shared. “I probably shouldn’t.”
Sawyer stopped and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Is something wrong?”
Kat squirmed beneath his gaze, adjusting her purse on her shoulder. His feisty hellcat seemed very out of her element at the moment. “I guess I’m just... I’m just thinking that maybe we shouldn’t spend so much time together.”
He wasn’t sure why, but the words seemed to strike him in a tender spot. Maybe he was reading things wrong, but he thought they were having a good time together. Some could say too good of a time if they took Saturday night into consideration. And he’d bought her an expensive car that would raise eyebrows with his family if they knew about it. But he didn’t care about any of that.
He’d done it because it felt like the right thing to do. Finn certainly wasn’t going to show up and take care of her the way she deserved to be cared for. He wasn’t going to go to doctor’s checkups and worry about whether she had a safe vehicle to get around town. Being thousands of miles away was a convenient excuse, but if Finn were in Charleston this very moment, he still wouldn’t be standing on this sidewalk beside Kat.
He’d asked Sawyer to handle things while he was gone, and Sawyer had gone over and above the call of duty. But Kat deserved someone who would do that for her. Being the go-between put Sawyer in a position he didn’t expect to be in: one where he was starting to have feelings for the last woman and child on Earth that he should. They weren’t serious feelings. But it was the closest thing to affection he’d felt for anyone since his breakup with Mira, and Kat’s rebuff stung a little more than he expected it to.
“It’s just lunch,” he said. “I recommend keeping your clothes on for that, if you’re concerned about us crossing the line again.”
Kat bit at her lip and tucked a stray strand of auburn hair behind her ear. She had it in a messy bun today, but the breeze had liberated just enough to curve along the edge of her face. It softened the look, in his opinion, but it seemed to be irritating Kat. As did Sawyer’s mere presence at the moment.
“Lunch. Just lunch,” she finally agreed. “I guess we need to talk, anyway.”
Sawyer ignored her ominous addition and instead pointed out a restaurant across the street touting modern Southern fare. The Charleston foodie scene was booming with little spots like this in the last few years. “How do you feel about that place?” he asked.
“That’s fine.”
They crossed the road together and went inside the restaurant, which was pretty busy considering it was on the late side for lunch. The hostess took them to a booth near the window and they settled in. The waiter brought them glasses of water and a basket of fried corn fritters with a spicy honey dipping sauce, before stepping away to let them look over the menu.
Sawyer decided on a burger with bacon, pimento cheese and a fried green tomato on it. Kat chose a salad with diced fried chicken, candied pecans and dried cranberries.
“Sawyer, before I say anything else, I want to thank you for being there today. It was unexpected, but at the same time, it was nice to have someone to share that moment.”
&nbs
p; “You’re welcome.” He got the feeling this was going to be the nicest part of this conversation. She had that worry line between her brows and that was never good.
“That said, I feel like we need to talk about the other night,” she said, once the waiter disappeared.
Here it comes, Sawyer thought. He’d insisted on this lunch and now he was about to be dumped by a woman he wasn’t even dating. “What about it?” he said, playing coy. He reached for a fritter and shoved it nonchalantly into his mouth. If she wanted to backpedal on everything they’d shared, he certainly wasn’t going to act like it was one of the greatest nights of his life and be at a disadvantage with her.
When he stripped the encounter down to the core, it was just sex. Great sex, but only sex. No promises, no emotional entanglements. They shouldn’t need to talk about it unless one of them saw it as more than that. It piqued Sawyer’s attention that Kat seemed to think it meant something.
“Well, it’s just you left so early and then the stuff happened with the car and we just never... I don’t know. Never acknowledged what we did and that it was probably a mistake that shouldn’t ever happen again.”
“I didn’t really think it was a mistake.” He shrugged. “It was fun. I had a good time, didn’t you?”
“Yes, of course I did,” she said, with a flush coming to her cheeks as she looked away from his gaze and focused on her place setting instead. “I meant that it probably shouldn’t have happened, considering what’s going on with your brother and me. Or what I hope to happen once he gets back.”
Sawyer wanted to tell Kat not to hold her breath where Finn was concerned, but he wasn’t sure if that was being helpful or being bitter. If she wanted to try things with Finn, she’d find out soon enough without him telling her.
“It might not have been the smartest thing I ever did, but I don’t regret it, Kat. It was what it was. And if it never happens again, that’s fine.” Even as he said the words he knew they weren’t really true, but it was what she needed to hear to feel better, so he’d say them.
Kat’s gaze met his again. She studied his face, trying to see into his thoughts or something. She would fail. He wasn’t even sure how he felt about all this. He understood her concerns about what was developing between them, even as he fought his own urges to spend as much time with her as he could.
“No one ever needs to know about it,” he added. “If you and Finn end up one big, happy family, then great for the two of you. I’m not going to stand up and object at the wedding, if that’s what you’re thinking.”
Now it was Kat who looked a little put out. Perhaps he’d been too aloof about their encounter, but he wasn’t sure what else to say. Was she expecting him to slam his fist on the table and demand they be together? For him to tell her all the reasons why he was the better choice? What good would that do? She seemed to want his brother even though they both knew Finn wasn’t the ideal candidate for dad and husband.
“Oh, okay,” she said after a moment. “Well, then, I guess we just need to put it behind us and there isn’t anything more to say about it.”
“Very well.”
“Speaking of Finn, I heard from him yesterday.”
“Oh, really?” Sawyer hadn’t spoken to his brother in a while. Finn had been lying low since the news about Kat and the baby had hit the family gossip circuit.
“He says he’s coming home next week.”
That was news to him. Sawyer had thought he had another couple weeks at least before Finn came back from Beijing. Ideally, he wanted to spend those weeks with Kat in his bed, but since that wasn’t going to happen, he supposed it didn’t matter when Finn returned.
“That’s good to hear,” he said, trying not to betray how he really felt. “That means things went well at the new Steele manufacturing facility. There was a bonus for him to open ahead of schedule, as I recall. That should be good for you.”
“Why? I don’t want any of Finn’s money.”
“You say that, I know, but you’ll end up with something. A trust fund for your daughter, at least?”
Kat reached out anxiously for a corn fritter. “I suppose. He didn’t mention anything about work when we spoke. Just that he would be back by next Wednesday afternoon.”
“I’m glad to hear it. Then he can be the one here with you instead of me, and I can get back to work. The District closes down in two weeks and I’m going to be up to my neck in blueprints and contractors, getting that place remodeled in my proposed time line. I want it reopened and bustling by the Christmas shopping season. Things went so well in China, maybe I should have Finn handle it,” he laughed.
Kat straightened in her seat at the mention of the District, as he’d anticipated. “Yes, I’ve taken some things home, but I’ve still got to get all my heavy equipment out. I’ll have to hire someone, I suppose, but I’ve been procrastinating about moving. I guess I was hoping...” Her voice trailed off and she looked at him with her big, optimistic eyes.
“Hoping what? That you’d manage to change my mind and not have to leave?”
They hadn’t really lit on this topic since that day at her studio. Other topics, like the baby and getting naked, had taken priority. Sawyer had hoped his argument had been convincing enough to silence her protests, but apparently neither of them had backed down. They’d just been distracted. If Kat was going to give him the cold shoulder and they weren’t going to have sex anymore, they might as well return to arguing. That added a little excitement to his day, if nothing else.
“Well, yes,” she admitted.
Maybe he had been distracted, but it was possible Kat had been working her side of the argument the whole time. “Is that why you slept with me?” he asked.
The red flush returned to her cheeks. “I would appreciate it if you would stop accusing me of sleeping with you for favors. I told you that wasn’t true the first time, after my encounter with Finn, and the answer is the same now. I have not, nor would I ever, use sex as a tool to get my way.”
“And yet you admit that you were hoping I would change my mind after the time we’ve spent together. Was it your stunning argument that you expected to sway me, or did you think you could take advantage of our closeness to get me to change my mind? Tell the truth.”
Kat’s jaw flexed tightly as she considered her words. “I had hoped that once you got to know me, you would understand where I was coming from. Or that you would be more interested in the plight of the people you’re putting out on the street.”
“I’m not putting them out on the street. They don’t live there. And stop trying to turn me into the bad guy, when you very well could’ve been manipulating me this whole time.”
“Yes, I’m so devious, spending all my time trying to seduce my way through the Steele family! And even if I did sleep with you to save the District, would it have even worked?”
Sawyer sat back in his chair. If he was honest with himself, she had worn away at his defenses. He had listened to her argument. Sunday morning as he’d lain in Kat’s bed, he’d considered making changes to his plans just because he thought it might make her smile. But with Finn coming home, there was no sense in admitting that. Perhaps it was better to put an end to whatever was building between them, once and for all. Kat was trying to be polite about distancing herself, but he knew that rarely worked. Anger was like a wrecking ball to anything they’d built.
“Probably not,” he said. “Like I told you, it was fun. But sex is sex, and business is business. I never mix the two. It doesn’t matter what happened between us or how one of us might feel about the other. The District closes in two weeks for renovations. No reasoned argument or even a heartfelt declaration of love would change that.”
Kat looked at him for a moment and then nodded stoically. “I see.” She wadded up the cloth napkin in her lap and tossed it onto the table. “I think I’m going to go.”
“
We haven’t eaten yet.”
“The baby and I have lost our appetite.” Kat scooped up her purse and got to her feet, then brushed past the confused waiter, who held their food in his hands.
They both watched her dart out the door. Sawyer wasn’t surprised. He’d said what he’d said on purpose. Her leaving was the inevitable result, as much as it pained him to see her go. Better now than to go through this while he had to watch her with Finn.
“I’ll take the burger,” he said to the confused man standing with a plate in each hand. “Box up the salad to go. I’ll have it for dinner.”
Besides, he thought, knowing Kat, this argument was far from over.
* * *
“Nice Lexus.”
Kat looked up from the box of tools she was packing up and saw Hilda in the doorway. “Hey there.”
“I can’t help but notice that your attempts to save the District seem to be backfiring spectacularly. Hot sex, billionaire babies, luxury cars, and yet we’re still closing in a few weeks.”
If those words had come from anyone else, Kat would’ve been insulted. But she knew Hilda better than that. “I’ve screwed it all up,” she admitted. “Now every time I try to talk to Sawyer, there’s family around who want to chat with me and discuss the baby. Pinning him down on the subject is impossible.”
“Well, maybe the protest will make a difference. A little negative news coverage for the Steele family might be just what we need to get Sawyer’s attention and keep it.”
Protest? Oh, no.
Kat dropped her face into her hand. She’d completely forgotten about the protest she had organized outside the Steele corporate offices on July Fourth. It was intended to be the artists’ way of reclaiming their independence from the new owner. She’d planned it weeks ago as a last-ditch effort to keep the place open if all her other plans failed. Before the wedding. Before she knew about the baby. Before Sawyer was in her bed.
From Seduction To Secrets (Switched! Book 3) Page 9
